History of Brylcreem

The history of Brylcreem

From the Teddy Boys to Mad Men, the classic slick back has been in and out of fashion for decades. A humble cream from Birmingham has helped to keep every hair firmly in place and satisfy every man. 

What is the history of Brylcreem? 

Keeping hair groomed since 1928, Brylcreem has been an ideal product for men's styling. Founded in Birmingham by County Chemicals, it was created as a hair cream originally only sold in barbershops.

Men were choosing Brylcreem in droves because they wanted to create that clean, sleek hairstyle that was the fashion of the time. And that kind of styling remained in vogue for another two decades - probably too convenient for Brylcreem's course. 

In fact, a brief history of Brylcreem is like a brief history of men's haircuts. During World War II, members of the RAF (Royal Air Force) were known as the Brylcreem boys thanks to the perfectly styled hair that the cream provided.

The 1950s saw an even greater increase in the product's popularity, with Brylcreem becoming the most dominant hairstyling product for men. Brylcreem owes its dominance to the fact that the Teddy Boy look was so popular. Slick hairstyles, as seen on Mad Men, lasted until the early 60s, when Brylcreem's fortunes began to run out.

Brylcreem's ownership status.

The British pharmaceutical company Beecham was the long-term owner of Brylcreem. Sara Lee bought the plant in June 1993. In January 2012, the worldwide rights to sell the Brylcreem brand were sold by Sara Lee Corporation to Unilever.

Various Brylcreem products are sold worldwide. Brylcreem is marketed in the United States by Combe Incorporated, in Europe by Unilever and in India by HUL. 

The first advertisement is a fact

Brylcreem's first television advertisement included an animation of a man with initially damaged hair, which thanks to the application of the product , was combed and smoothed as if it were a miracle!

What happened?

Well, partly to blame were the famous The Beatles and other famous musical groups of the time who had longer hair and promoted a more scruffy styling. Because of this, the demand for styling creams dropped and so did Brylcreem's profits. 

Despite efforts to convince people that Brylcreem's creams could still be used in such more sloppy styles , sales declined and fell steadily until the 1970s. Long hair equated to big problems for Brylcreem.

In the 80's and 90's the cream tried to be updated as much as possible to appeal to a younger demographic. In 1997, David Beckham became the face of Brylcreem and proved that it wasn't just for them the styled hairstyles of a completely different era.

The Brylcreem story today

The original cream is still available on the market in the same packaging that has been around since the 1960s. A few other waxes and gels are also available.

 Many people may still think of it as a product of another era, but it has really embraced the 21st century by dominating media campaigns and launching many advertisements that usually appeal to the 16-30 year old market.

 A good example of this was their 2007 campaign, which is well worth checking out!

Notable references

- On January 26, 1987, WWF Primetime Wrestling commentator Gorilla Monsoon reported that Bret Hart "must have 47 pounds of Brylcream on his head".

- On King & Maxwell, Sean King says of the FBI offices that "It smells like Brylcreem".

- In Mad Men, Roger Sterling orders more drinks before a meeting with the Nixon campaign, saying " They'll never smell it over the smell of Brylcreem".

- In Blacklist, Reddington refers to his use of Brylcreem while being held prisoner.

- In Rutles' All You Need Is Cash ,a satirical program about the Beatles, it is mentioned that "one of the members used to shave his hair to save on Brylcreem."